04
Mid spring
What to plant in April
Showers and warmth in equal measure. Everything wants to grow at once — including the weeds.
Sow indoors
- Courgettes
- Squash
- Pumpkins
- Sweetcorn
- French beans
- Sunflowers
- Zinnias
Sow outdoors
- Maincrop carrots
- Beetroot
- Chard
- Spring onions
- Lettuce
- Parsnips
- Nasturtiums
Flowers to plant
- Sunflowers (indoors)
- Zinnias (indoors)
- Cosmos
- Nasturtiums direct
- Sweet pea seedlings out
Herbs to grow
- Basil indoors
- Dill direct
- Mint (in a buried pot to stop it spreading)
Beginner tips
- ✦Sow little and often — half a row of lettuce every fortnight beats a whole packet at once.
- ✦Slugs are waking. A torch and a midnight patrol does more than any pellet.
Common mistakes
- ✕Planting tender courgettes and tomatoes outside before mid-May — frost is still possible.
- ✕Forgetting to harden off indoor seedlings — they'll burn in a day.
Small garden & pot options
- · A pot of basil by the kitchen door
- · Bush tomatoes in a 30 cm pot (start indoors)
Raised bed suggestions
- · Successional lettuce in a single row
- · Beetroot every 10 cm
- · Cover brassicas with mesh against pigeons
Plant this month
If you only do one thing in April…
- →Second early & maincrop potatoes
- →Strawberry runners
- →Onion sets
- →Hardy perennials
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